Raphael Soyer

1899 - 1987

Raphael Soyer was born in Russia and immigrated to this country with his family in 1912. He studied at Cooper Union, the National Academy of Design and at the Art Students League. Many years later, looking back over his life and career, Soyer noted that as a young immigrant, with little grasp of the English language, art was a great equalizer for him and many others. “We felt equal to our peers,” he stated. Command of the language was not necessary—one student could draw just like the next.

Soyer painted the watercolor Street in Gloucester (1925) from Rogers Street, looking up towards Gloucester City Hall. During this time, while he was still a young man, Soyer worked outside, carrying a sketchbook wherever he went, enjoying the challenge of capturing everyday street scenes. Little is known about the time Raphal Soyer spent on Cape Ann but a 1951 article in the Art Digest included the following reference to his time here and his preferences in terms of subject matter: “Soyer began as a painter of streets and people in the streets. Even when he summered at Rockport or other seacoast places, he painted the streets not the strand.”